T.H.E. Show - Newport Beach

A different Audio Element room with big VTL monoblocks and Sonus Faber Amati Futura speakers, with black finish instead of the usual Sonus Faber wooden look. The FULL DCS digital stack was dominating the room visually as well as sonically.

DCS transport, DAC, upsampler, clock, all arranged to enable comparing sound quality from disc, USB, and Network (NAS). MacBook Pro was handling the computer side of things. Obviously, these types of comparisons are dependent on many factors including software, implementation of each connection method, cables, etc. In this room, the physical disc had the most obvious vividness, bass authority, and that familiar perfect-sound-forever mien, but the network connection fought back with a smoother, more analogue type of presentation while not yielding too much on the detail front. The USB input didn't really impress in direct comparison, but I would bet a USB guru could turn that around with some tweaking. In this room, the USB input sounded somewhat dull with less bass foundation.

Wavetouch speakers. These sported funky "waveguides" with what looks to be Pinocchio's nose in front of drivers. I heard very crisp and defined highs, and voila, it turns out they use the inimitable AMT tweeters. The room didn't sport SOTA type of gear at all, using an Oppo 95 into a Scott Nixon DAC. The cute monitors were making real music at only $2K a pair.

Esoteric and Cabasse main room sure looked impressive. I couldn't help but wonder how many Esoterics I would need to add before the equipment rack collapsed. Jokes aside, I thought the eyeballs (ehem, "Spheres") with the hidden subwoofers sounded more successful than the traditional boxed type. The impressive Esoteric K-01 CDP with AKM 32-bit DAC chips once again made people's wish list.

Teresonic Ingenium speakers. Fabulous cabinetry and finish with sound quality that kind of mimics the look, warm and inviting. The small speaker on the floor, which I initially thought was a small subwoofer, turned out to be Teresonic Magus speakers. They are supposed to look like this on stands.

Melody Valve gear with Angel City Audio Trinity speakers presented some tremendous value. The speakers cost around $3K a pair, which had a great performance-to-price ratio. The Melody MN845 monoblocks were glowing with that red glow only a quad of 845 tubes can provide.

MSB Technology with YG Acoustics speakers, which are machined out of aircraft-grade aluminum alloy with ultra clean sound. MSB Tech is one of the few companies that are using their own DAC technology, with their discrete 24-bit ladder DAC modules. Delicious stuff.

The star of the room was the new MSB Tech "Analogue" DAC, which is their "entry-level" (?) DAC at $6995 featuring a large portion of technology from their Platinum/Diamond line of DAC's. Whatever they are doing, the room sounded mighty rich, detailed, and "centered."

This BSG Technologies room was perhaps one of the most interesting rooms at the show. The second from top component is the qøl™ processor. I am not even sure how to pronounce that word, but it certainly made a huge sonic difference in and out of the audio loop. I still am not sure what's inside, but in this age of SOTA digital processing, qøl™ is an analogue processor that, using their wording, captures "all the dynamic, tonal, and spatial content of a real sonic event." Upon further inquiry, I am gathering it is some sort of device that works with the correct (enhance?) phase of things.

Even though the device's gain is zero, when engaged, the system volume seemed louder, due to whatever it was doing correctly per their explanation. When volume was matched during the demo, I still sensed a lot more immediacy, vividness, and a sense of a veil or two lifted. This is definitely a product worth keeping an eye on.

Audio Research and Vandersteen 7 speakers, which is a 170 pound behemouth with actively-powered bass amp inside. I'm not too sure about the blue color, but the sound quality was certainly representative of what Vandersteen can do when not trying to be budget-minded.

Silverline Sonatina IV speakers ($6000) powered by the respected BEL amplifier. Silverline speakers sometimes fly under the radar of shoppers, but these speakers had a clear, rich, involving sound with lots of ambience. The BEL amplification certainly had a part in the overall sound as well. The fact they are easy-to-drive 91 dB/ 8 Ohms is a bonus for those of us with moderate wattage.

Lots of cool lights in this McIntosh room. It's not like anyone can mistaken this room for anything else, but the speakers seemed rather conventional, compared to the wide McIntosh speakers with a few dozen drivers in past.

This Pioneer room blew away people's minds, mainly due to the $129/pair Pioneer SP-BS22-LR speakers by the esteemed Andrew Jones of TAD fame. The speakers were rather well-placed, but even driven by consumer-grade Pioneer electronics, the room had clarity, neutrality, and great bass power, especially considering the 4 inch bass driver! Sure, things may not be refined to the Nth degree, but music was alive and enjoyable, which is what matters. I see Best Buy has them on sale for $99/pair, so people need to be running to buy a pair, or six.

Totem Acoustics room with Totem Element Metal speakers. In the olden days, possibly due to the conventional appearance, Totem name didn't exactly elicit excitment to many. The new Element Metal line changes things with the modern design, colors, and most of all, the high-tech 7 inch drivers run without any crossovers on the woofers. These speakers powered by MBL amps just rocked the room with huge bass dynamics for the cabinet size. One wouldn't think of "Totem" upon first glance, but the unique beak feet give them away eventually.

Lawrence Audio Speakers. There were rather interesting-looking bunch of speakers with the Cello model here with Air Motion Tweeters in front and rear-firing ribbon tweeters. A full complement of Jeff Rowland amplification and DAC was powering these unique-appearing speakers.

Emerald Physics room with CS 2.3 Mk II speakers which are $5950 with active DSP included, not a bad price for a 3-way, 4 driver, bi-amped dipole speaker. They certainly have that dipole sound and room integration, but I do wish Emerald Physics would have easier-to-remember, catchier names.

Cake Audio Room was one of my favorite rooms at the show, a lot of it owing to the incredible Rockport Technologies Atria speakers, which at $21,500/pair is not too bad for a Rockport. They utilize Rockport's new carbon-fiber sandwich-composite midrange drivers and woofer, as well as beryllium-dome tweeters, all housed in granite-like cabinets. Often, high-tech drivers and cabinets can end up sounding too high-fi and dry, but the Atria sounded sumptuous, rich, detailed, while sounding precise at the same time. The huge Balanced Audio Tech solid-state amplifier must sound very good as well, as the system sounded like tubes with tube vividness and liveliness without the mush.

Brooks Berdan room with Spendor A9 speakers ($7995) and very French Jadis electronics. I have not heard amusical Spendors in my life, and these speakers were also sounding mighty musical and involving, although not exactly a looker. Jadis preamps and amps are legendary, and the overall sound in here had a delicacy and refinement tube afacionados know and love.

King Sound Prince III electrostat speakers. I love electrostats and welcome any new 'stats, but unfortunately, they are notoriously difficult to set up in rooms, and this room sounded like a little more tuning was in order, e.g. some room enforcements in lower ranges was missed.

PBN room with simply Herculean speakers dominating the room, as well as huge PBN monoblocks. This type of situation makes it difficult to evaluate the speakers without the room interaction, but PBN speakers always seem to offer a nice value for what one gets. A whole rack full of PBN electronics were manning the bathroom door here.

Quintessence Audio MX speakers in this room were also rather large, but the sound somehow integrated pretty well in the room. PBN amplification was handling these beasts with aplomb, especially in creating a nice groove and rhythm, along with rich harmonics. Really nice-sounding room.

NuForce room with Angel City Audio Trinity speakers, same speakers featured in the Melody Audio room. Oppo transport into NuForce DAC9, all into NuForce amplification. Personally, I prefer the look with the grill off though.

Linn Audio Loudspeakers, not to be confused with Linn UK. This model is the New Athenaum, featuring a compression driver horn-loaded to a rather low crossover point. Sourced by bone-stock Sony 5400 player into Pass XA100.5 monoblocks, these speakers had incredibly airy and smooth high/mids. Those who fancy a two-way with compression driver and woofer won't be able to do much better than these.

Onda Ligera room with Onda Ligera WAVE 168D loudspeakers and Onda Ligera amplification. This is a formidable design with top cabinet contructed out of aluminum and the bass module with special bass loading utilizing two 8 inch drivers facing each other inside.

Not sure if it's due to the special bass loading, but I noticed trendous bass drive and natural bounce in this room. I hate bass that is robot-tight and over-damped, lacking natural web-and-flow. This system had bassline that was bouncy and natural yet with great pitch. Very nice.

Wilson Audio Sophia III speakers with Ayre QB-9 DAC and integrated amp. Wilson certainly has changed its core sound character completely since the days of Watt 3/Puppy 2, now with most of their speakers sounding quite smooth, refined, and dare-I-say warm. The ubiquitous Ayre electronics really seem to bring out speakers' potential as well, walking the fine balance between warmth and resolution.

Martin Logan room with the Montis speaker, which comes in below the Summit X at $9,995. I did not see the huge CLX 'stats this year, and in many ways, the smaller Logans do these rooms more justice. The Herron electronics nicely fleshed out the tones while retaining the ethereal beauty of 'stat panels. Many people in past have been turned off by old Logan hybrids due to the bass discontinuity, but their recent offerings have really minimized that effect to the point where I could personally own a pair without much complaint.

Von Gaylord room. Their new entry-level speaker VG-8 using a titanium tweeter and fiberglass woofer, more affordable at $3500 compared to $13K the Legend commands, yet offering a healthy dose of the big brother's sound quality. An old Marantz CD73 was acting as transport into Von Gaylord's own DAC.

Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne mini-monitors (around $2500) powered by Playback Designs' new IPS-3 (Integrated Playback System 3), which houses DAC/preamp/amp in one chassis. These mini-monitors simply disappeared from the room, leaving just you and the performer. People say this about a lot of small speakers, but these really disappear; and the uncluttered convenience of the one-box Playback Designs unit helped to make for a very simple, clean, great-sounding system.

Music First room featuring Audio Note AN-E Lexus HE speakers. Many people look at an Audio Note speaker, look at the price tag, and inevitably ask, "Why does it cost so much?" There are some explanations as to what goes into these speakers on the AN website, etc, but honestly, one look at these plain-Jane speakers doesn't inspire too much confidence. To make it worse, the 300B SET amp planned to be used was having issues, so the plain Music Reference RM 10 amp with lowly EL84 tube (gulp!) was powering them. When playing power music, I still did not feel good about the price, especially with so many speaker options out there, many of them present in this very building. Then somebody hung a reel-to-reel tape of some very nice concerto, and I "got it" suddenly. In the heart of midrange, there was just simply music. There suddenly was no need to analyze this and that aspect of the musical reproduction, as I simply felt I was listening to the musician directly.

Oh, well, this system will not outshine others when it comes to many types of music or source, but if you dig the type of music and sound it presents so well, then the price would only be a number. Darn!

My perennial favorite, Sander Sound room. The associated gear does not change year-to-year, and the sound was as clean, immaculate, refined, direct, and simply beautiful. Sanders 10C electrostat with the digital crossover still remains one of the very finest speakers one can own, at any price. This time, though, having listened to the Audio Note speakers with the right music, and even the ludicrous-appearing Voxative Ampeggio Due speakers with the right music, I do wish Sanders had that super-extra, ridiculously-outrageous, well, soul. Then again, Sanders will play way more variety of music with aplomb, so this is why we are all here always seeking.

Reite Audio electronics and Silverline speakers. The tall and skinny Silverline Prelude Plus speakers were making unusually authoritative music here, no doubt aided by the impressive Reite Audio gear. In fact, the $2000 Silverlines once again appeared to be value champs in this price range, with very good clarity and bass for size. Add a small 8 inch subwoofer or two, and one could have a very full-range goodness here.

ATC 100 active loudspeakers driven by Antelope Audio Zodiac Gold DAC with Voltikus power supply. ATC makes some great speakers, and the active versions really cutting down on clutter. It's surprising not more people own them.

KEF room with R900 speakers really caught me by surprise. KEF was showing their high-tech Blade speakers last year, which costs a lot more than R900, but R900 has trickle-down technology, especially the sweet Uni-Q tweeter/midrange coaxial, coincident array. Powered by Chord electronics and Chord USB DAC, they presented clear, vivid, solid sounds with appropriate warmth and texture. More importantly, the familiar male and female vocals did not exhibit strange colorations or anomalies, just neutral, strong reach-out quality. These retail for around $5K, and it's amazing how much speaker one can get for that price range these days compared to just 5-6 years ago. Bravo, KEF.

Crazy Voxativ Ampeggio Due speakers. These are around $100K, seeming like an even worse value proposition than Audio Note speakers. Powered by the equally-crazy looking KR audio Kronzilla SX amplifier, this system produced the male voice like I have never heard before. In an ideal world, I might use the Sanders 'stat for female voices, Audio Note for chamber music, Voxativ for male vocals, MBL for parties or dynamic music, etc, but here we are.

The inevitable MBL room, which always rocks like no one else. Simply immaculate MBL electronics to speakers, set up well to show off the Radialstrahler technology. As a bonus, reel-to-reel tape was spinning with a vengeance, simply propulsing the music like a rocket on steroids. Beautiful stuff if one can afford it.

I spent a fair amount of time talking to Clayton and checking them out. He was wonderful to talk to, and overall they seemed like a great speaker for the price. More then 1 person came into the room while I was there and declared the T2's the best speaker they had heard at the event for the money. To my ears, they had a linear sound (his design goal). Although not completely OB, they reminded me of other OB speakers I've heard. Big and open sounding, but with less precision pinpoint imaging then box speakers. Instruments were very natural and balanced, but just didn't have such a precise point source to their delivery. Bass was ample, but a bit boomy in the untreated hotel room. Clayton had a very spartan setup, iTunes playing redbook , USB out to Prism DAC, direct to a Spatial class D amp, then right to the speakers. I believe the room was empty with the exception of some chairs.

The speakers are physically large, but very nice looking. I think if I had a bigger room, with more space around the speaker position I probably would have ordered a pair.

I spent a fair amount of time talking to Clayton and checking them out. He was wonderful to talk to, and overall they seemed like a great speaker for the price. More then 1 person came into the room while I was there and declared the T2's the best speaker they had heard at the event for the money. To my ears, they had a linear sound (his design goal). Although not completely OB, they reminded me of other OB speakers I've heard. Big and open sounding, but with less precision pinpoint imaging then box speakers. Instruments were very natural and balanced, but just didn't have such a precise point source to their delivery. Bass was ample, but a bit boomy in the untreated hotel room. Clayton had a very spartan setup, iTunes playing redbook , USB out to Prism DAC, direct to a Spatial class D amp, then right to the speakers. I believe the room was empty with the exception of some chairs.

The speakers are physically large, but very nice looking. I think if I had a bigger room, with more space around the speaker position I probably would have ordered a pair.

Our team from the Bay Area was on the scene with clean ears and a healthy attitude.

Some came by car, Some came by plane but the truth was we got there and had a great time.

Here is my crew. Sure they look quite normal. But when it comes to listening to a room and making the most of it these two are hards as nails. Sunil (Soundofrockets) and Cliff (Shotoons). Imma warn you now. If you are clogging the best seats in the room potificating about the air around your ochestrial quiet passage you could get shanked. They are not afraid to choke a bitch out of the sweet spot.

We saw the good the bad and the ugly. We think that concentrating on the best of the show in our opinion would be the best approach.

Of course TAD won the day the week the month and the year. Andrew is the consumate audio gentleman. He gives you a taste of music and like any good purveyer of sound, then takes it away leaving you wanting for more. He tells you what you are going to hear, plays the cut and asks if you heard it. If more of the rooms conducted thier business moving through a concise playlist efficiently the guys in my crew wouldn't be sporting brass knuckles and wearing boots. Thanks Andrew it was a pleasure to get a quality demontration and if we all had the money we would opt for the TAD premium performance. The TAD experience was so comfortable we even got some time to close our eyes and relax. It was like being at home.

Of course TAD won the day the week the month and the year. Andrew is the consumate audio gentleman. He gives you a taste of music and like any good purveyer of sound, then takes it away leaving you wanting for more. He tells you what you are going to hear, plays the cut and asks if you heard it. If more of the rooms conducted thier business moving through a concise playlist efficiently the guys in my crew wouldn't be sporting brass knuckles and wearing boots. Thanks Andrew it was a pleasure to get a quality demontration and if we all had the money we would opt for the TAD premium performance. The TAD experience was so comfortable we even got some time to close our eyes and relax. It was like being at home.

This and more

I could spend all day listening to the big TAD's this year - last year they seemed to overpower the (I believe same) room. Not so this year. There was just something very right about the sound beingproduced by this system. Even sitting way off to the side the tone from every instrument in every piece was very relaxing and natural, regardless of the volume. There were other notable rooms, but this was my favorite. The Lawrence speakers were very nice and I liked the new Emerald Physics a great deal (they seemed familiar somehow.... ) They were using the AntiMode 2.0 and were producing some of the best Bass at the show. For the price a ridiculous deal. The MMG's seem like a steal at the dollar price point, but I would have liked to hear different music. I think Vapor needed a bigger room. Never could get the smaller Magico's to sound right. The big Magicos were pretty good, but probably in too big of a room.

Best Vendor DemonstrationThe salesman in the room went above and beyond to give us a demo on what most of us consider to be snakeoil. Synergistic Research Bass Station. We have all seen the small room tuning cups. I don't remember the name of the room sponsor we were in. One of our group, who will remain nameless, asked if you can drink sigle malted scotch out of the room tuning cups. A discussion began about thier effectiveness.

A discussion ensued.

Right in the middle of a busy event our hero posted a person outside the door to stop traffic, and clear defined for us how well this product worked. He played a cut of music for us and asked us to pay attention to the sound in the rear of the room. He paused the music and removed the tuning cups from all three of the positions in the back of the room. He resumed the music. Much of the ambient goodness in the rear of the room went away. He stopped the music again. When he replaced the cups the goodness returned. Was it a mass hypnotic trick? We all agreed on what we heard. The room clearly had more depth and musical spaciousness with the cups employed. Without the cups it sounded like we were all sitting too close to the back wall, which were were.and were putting up with that reflective nastiness. The unknown salesman changed the music to some bass heavy Stevie Ray Vaugn. We listened and got comfortable with the piece. He paused and removed the tuning cups directly in front of the woofers of the Wilson speakers we were listening to. When the music started the bass was as woolly as gradmas sweater. When the music started a third time with the cups in place the bass tightenup and was articulate and firm again.

Congradulations this vendor was taking a demonstration to the next level.

I could spend all day listening to the big TAD's this year - last year they seemed to overpower the (I believe same) room. Not so this year. There was just something very right about the sound beingproduced by this system. Even sitting way off to the side the tone from every instrument in every piece was very relaxing and natural, regardless of the volume. There were other notable rooms, but this was my favorite. The Lawrence speakers were very nice and I liked the new Emerald Physics a great deal (they seemed familiar somehow.... ) They were using the AntiMode 2.0 and were producing some of the best Bass at the show. For the price a ridiculous deal. The MMG's seem like a steal at the dollar price point, but I would have liked to hear different music. I think Vapor needed a bigger room. Never could get the smaller Magico's to sound right. The big Magicos were pretty good, but probably in too big of a room.

Best System for the Money

Wally at Underwood did such a great job demonstrating his products to us. I loved everything about the system he was showing. $12K got you the works. Well not the chairs and Wally. Open baffle sweetness, big bass and excellent imaging won the day here. Throw in a room correction system, a DAC, three power amps, speakers and a preamp and you were complete. The Emerald Physics speakers are stellar! If I were starting from scratch I would start here. If you were gonna try to beat this system yo had better bring your lunch. It would take you all day.

The Bass Station should be placed directly below the Vibratron, approximately three to six inches out from the front wall, with the dispersion baffle facing your listening position while obstructing the view of its resonator satellite. The Bass Station may also be placed on the floor behind a rack or piece of furniture, just below the Vibratron. This will not hinder the Bass Station’s performance. If necessary, the Bass Station can be positioned in front of the equipment rack or furniture, directly below the Vibratron, and in between your main speakers for a significant improvement in low frequency performance.

Razor sharp patent pending Stilettos are included with the Bass Station to couple the characteristics of its bass resonator to your room. Simply screw the Stilettos into the Bass Station for noticeably tighter low frequencies and precise image placement. If you have carpeted floors, be certain you press down hard on the Bass Station so its razor sharp Stilettos make solid contact with the floor.

If you like the Bass Station try some of these under your gear:Our new MiG component footers deliver vast improvements to all systems. Based on our Acoustic ART System resonators, MiG’s (Mechanical Interface Grounding) re-tune a component’s mechanical resonance, while providing a lightning fast drain of mechanical energy to ground. The result is a much larger soundstage with a lower noise floor for blacker backgrounds. Other benefits include sweeter highs with extended air, a more layered and relaxed mid-range, and deeper, tighter bass. MiG’s are especially beneficial when improving the performance of digital components such as transports, D to A converters, CD players, and even digital clocks. MiG’s are a must audition for anyone seeking organic natural sound.